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Overview

An exclusive look inside the power and politics of college fraternities in America as they struggle to survive despite growing waves of criticism and outrage.

College fraternity culture has never been more embattled. Once a mainstay of campus life, fraternities are now subject to withering criticism for reinforcing white male privilege and undermining the lasting social and economic value of a college education.

No fraternity embodies this problem more than Sigma Alpha Epsilon, a national organization with more than 15,000 undergraduate brothers spread over 230 chapters nationwide. While SAE enrollment is still strong, it has been pilloried for what John Hechinger calls "the unholy trinity of fraternity life": racism, deadly drinking, and misogyny. Hazing rituals have killed ten undergraduates in its chapters since 2005, and, in 2015, a video of a racist chant breaking out among its Oklahoma University members went viral. That same year, SAE was singled out by a documentary on campus rape, The Hunting Ground. Yet despite these problems and others, SAE remains a large institution with strong ties to Wall Street and significant political reach.

In True Gentlemen, Hechinger embarks on a deep investigation of SAE and fraternity culture generally, exposing the vast gulf between its founding ideals and the realities of its impact on colleges and the world at large. He shows how national fraternities are reacting to a slowly dawning new reality, and asks what the rest of us should do about it. Should we ban them outright, or will they only be driven underground? Can an institution this broken be saved? With rare access and skillful storytelling, Hechinger draws a fascinating and necessary portrait of an institution in deep need of reform, and makes a case for how it can happen.

Product Details

About the Author

John Hechinger, a senior editor at Bloomberg News, was a 2011 finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Public Service and a two-time winner of the George Polk Award for his reporting on education. Before joining Bloomberg in 2010, he was a senior special writer at The Wall Street Journal, where he focused on education and finance. A graduate of Yale University, he lives near Boston with his wife and daughter.

"True Gentlemen is a timely and deeply unsettling book about the arrogance and abuses of too much of the Greek letter fraternity system. John Hechinger goes deep in reporting the shameful behavior of this so-called elite society."-Tom Brokaw, NBC News

"Why should we care about the world of fraternities? This book will show you: because of the culture of alcohol, hazing, misogyny, racism, and brutality that John Hechinger brilliantly describes. With gripping and powerful storytelling, Hechinger portrays a part of American collegiate life that everyone should be aware of, one that feeds the darkest instincts of our future leaders."-Diane Ravitch, research professor of education, New York University, and author of Reign of Error

"Here, at last, is the full story of fraternity culture in America. Although True Gentleman tells the story of one social fraternity, its lessons apply to many others. Fair, deeply reported, and often riveting, the book explores both the infamous crimes and tragedies that have plagued SAE, and also the under-explored benefits of belonging to the organization. There are testaments here to friendship and loyalty, and also to danger and financial risk. Any reader interested in knowing why these clubs have endured so long, in the face of so much bad behavior, should read this book. For parents of potential pledges, it ought to be required."-Caitlin Flanagan, contributing editor to the Atlantic and author of Girl Land

"John Hechinger draws a complex, layered, but comprehensible portrait of the infamously elusive and exclusive college-bred base of Donald Trump. It is hard to imagine a better moment for this investigation of one of the foundations of White male privilege-the college fraternity. True Gentleman is indispensable if Americans are going to figure out why women's lives, why poor lives, why queer lives, why non-White lives are still so disposable in the United States of America."-Ibram X. Kendi, National Book Award-winning author of Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America

"What happens behind the bolted oaken doors of American fraternities? John Hechinger's relentless reporting and fine critical intelligence reveal all too much about the worst of frat life in America. A necessary and significant book."-Mark Edmundson,university professor, University of Virginia

"By further exposing these profound problems, Hechinger has made a far more valuable to contribution to American college life than any fraternity ever could."-Christian Science Monitor

"A blistering inside look at the traditional Greek system through the lens of a single brotherhood... Hechinger, a senior editor atBloomberg News, has delivered a deeply researched account that traces SAE from its roots to today - and offers a kind of book of revelation."-Washington Post

From the Publisher

★ 09/15/2017The film Animal House (1978) has long shaped Americans' view of fraternity members as hard partying but ultimately harmless, nitwits. Yet there is a far more sinister side to "Greek life." This is where Bloomberg News editor Hechinger's book comes in handy. Using the notorious fraternity Sigma Alpha Epsilon (SAE) as a case study, the author focuses each chapter on a different facet of the fraternity story. This can make for sobering reading, as Hechinger traces the racist and anti-Semitic legacy of many of today's traditionally white fraternities to the rape culture that pervades these institutions to such an extent that on many campuses, SAE stands for "sexual assault expected." Hechinger travels across the country to interview individuals at places such as the University of Alabama, where the SAE's century-old chapter has yet to "pledge" a black student. Although there are mountains of evidence linking fraternities to an outsized share of sexual assault charges and hazing-related injuries and deaths, college administrators have been ineffective at reining in "problem chapters." As Hechinger demonstrates, this has a lot to do with fraternities' fund-raising clout and lobbying power (including the political action committee FratPAC). VERDICT An exemplary work of investigative reporting. Recommended for all academic libraries.—Seth Kershner, Northwestern Connecticut Community Coll. Lib., Winsted

Library Journal

★ 2017-06-27A chilling exposé of American fraternity life.At colleges and universities across the country, fraternities espouse high ideals of brotherhood, honor, pride, service, loyalty, and collegiality. They claim to build men, and they inspire profound loyalty among their alumni and fierce protectionism among their undergraduate cohorts. As Bloomberg News senior editor Hechinger, a two-time winner of the George Polk Award, demonstrates in this riveting, infuriating book, these organizations often fall well short of those high ideals. Focusing on Sigma Alpha Epsilon, one of the most prestigious, popular, and controversial fraternities in America, the author reveals a culture fraught with myriad ills. Many will be unsurprising to those who have attended college, but others are shocking. These include dangerous abuse of alcohol and drugs; dehumanizing hazing rituals; sexual assault, rape, general harassment, and other horrifying treatment of women; rampant elitism; and both obvious and covert racism. The author shows how these problems come with access to politicians and lawyers and other moneyed and influential men. SAE embodies all of these damning flaws. It has experienced the most deaths of all such bodies among its undergraduate members in recent years, and its members have been involved in assault and rape to the point where many female students, when asked about the fraternity, immediately respond with a common play on its Greek letters: "Sexual Assault Expected." In 2015, the University of Oklahoma chapter was caught on video singing an ugly racist song. Hechinger documents all of this and more in an exposé that, given the influence of fraternity alumni, requires tremendous courage to pursue. In the final chapters, the author offers possible ways forward for SAE and fraternities more generally that might alleviate the ongoing crisis, almost all of which would require a deep commitment to a drastic reduction of alcohol consumption, the elimination of hazing, and other steps that national SAE leaders have begun to tackle. A highly disquieting but important investigation of one of the most influential subcultures in American higher education.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

This was a very interesting in depth look at fraternities across America and the increase of binge drinking on campus. It was pretty interesting until about 3/4 of the way and I felt like I had had enough of the statistics and the stories.
It was amazing that it seemed to be only one fraternity that was having the alcohol problems for the most part. As I never got the chance to go to college (I did take night courses), I pretty much requested it just to check it out.
A very informative book that you could tell the author did a lot of research for and interesting for the most part.
Thanks to Perseus Books and Net Galley for providing me with a free e-galley in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.

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